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Install Fuchsia on a NUC

This document describes how to get a NUC up and running with Fuchsia.

1. Get Parts

You need the following:

  • USB 3.0 Drive
  • NUC
  • RAM
  • m.2 SSD
  • Keyboard
  • Mouse
  • Monitor that supports HDMI
  • HDMI cable
  • ethernet cable
  • Magnetic tip phillips head screwdriver.

This table shows what I bought from Amazon.

Item Link Notes:
NUC B01MSZLO9P Get a NUC7 (Kaby Lake) or NUC6 (Skylake) for GPU support.
RAM B01BIWKP58 Works fine.
SSD B01IAGSDJ0 Works fine. You only need one of these SSDs.
SSD B00TGIVZTW Works fine.
SSD B01M9K0N8I Works fine.
Optional:
Keyboard and Mouse B00B7GV802 Works fine. Next time I'd get a keyboard with a smaller footprint.
Monitor B015WCV70W Works fine.
HDMI Cable B014I8SIJY Works fine.
USB 3.0 drive B01BGTG41W Works fine.

2. Prepare the NUC

NUCs don’t come with RAM or an SSD, so you need to install them.

Follow the instructions to install the RAM and SSD on the NUC:

  1. Remove the phillips screws in the bottom feet of the NUC.

  2. Install the RAM.

  3. Remove the phillips screw that will hold the SSD in place (phillips screwdriver with magnetic tip is useful here).

  4. Install the SSD.

  5. Screw the SSD in place using screw from Step 3.

  6. Replace bottom and screw feet back in.

  7. Plug power, ethernet, HDMI, keyboard, and mouse into NUC.

3. Enable EFI booting

  1. Reboot NUC.
  2. Press F2 while booting to enter BIOS.
  3. In the Boot Order window on the left, click the Legacy tab.

  4. Uncheck ‘Legacy Boot’.

  5. Click the Advanced button and confirm the following boot configuration:

    1. Select the Boot Priority tab.
      1. Check UEFI Boot.
      2. Set USB the first entry in the boot order.
    2. Select the Boot configuration tab.
      1. Check Boot Network Devices Last.
      2. Check Unlimited Network Boot Attempts.
      3. Check USB boot devices.
      4. Set Network boot to UEFI PXE & iSCSI.

  6. Select the Secure Boot tab and uncheck Secure Boot.

  7. Press F10 to save the changes and exit BIOS.

If you want to remotely manage the device, see Remote Management for NUC.

4. Build Fuchsia

  1. Follow the getting started guidelines. Make sure to use the board configuration x64 when running fx set. For example fx set core.x64.

5. Pave Fuchsia

  1. Plug in your USB key to your build workstation.
  2. Identify the path to your USB key by running fx list-usb-disks.
  3. Create a Zedboot USB by running fx mkzedboot /path/to/usb/disk.
  4. Plug the Zedboot USB key into the NUC and boot it.
  5. When Zedboot is started, press Alt+F3 to switch to a command line prompt.
  6. Run lsblk on the device. Take note of the HDD or SSD's device path.
    1. An example path looks like /dev/sys/pci/00:17.0/ahci/sata0/block
  7. Run install-disk-image init-partition-tables --block-device <BLOCK_DEVICE_PATH> on the device.
  8. Run fx update on your workstation.